[Solved] Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

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chasinmytail
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Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2022 5:13 pm

[Solved] Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by chasinmytail »

Hi
New FreeCAD user. I apologize if this is obvious but I have spend the last week watching countless YouTube videos and reading forum but for the life of me I can't figure out the answer.

I'm running FreCAD 0.20.1 29410 Windows version.

I'm trying to build a custom enclosure for a HP EliteDesk G2 motherboard. As I'm learning FreeCAD, the best way to do it seems to have a model of the motherboard first. For that reason, I'm starting to model the motherboard. There is nothing ready-made in GrabCAD, so I'm building my own. The way I'm approaching this is to design the PCB and put on the the ports, USB, Ethernet, etc. The motherboard design just need to accurately capture the ports and holes in the motherboard.
Because I don't want to design from scratch every port, I got from GrabCAD some STEP files for other motherboard design and my plan is to build my PCB and put in the right place and height the various parts I'm getting from the step file.

My problem is that I can't find a way to put these parts with precision, X, Y, Z on the PCB board I'm designing. I can use transformation, to move the parts but that seems to be more eyeballing as oppose to being precise. All the examples I have seen on YouTube with assembly, talk to matching surfaces, but for example, my USB port sits 7 mm on top of the board, 14 mm from the right edge, and 2 mm in front of the edge of the board. How do I place these parts with previsions relative to the edges of the board?

I have attached my project file. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Elitedesk_MB.FCStd
(447.7 KiB) Downloaded 22 times
Thanks Chasin
Last edited by chasinmytail on Fri Oct 07, 2022 4:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
chrisb
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by chrisb »

Hi and welcome to the forum!

First thing to do is to learn about Attachments. The Basic Attachment Tutorial will help here. Then you can offset from the attachments origin by changing the AttachmentOffset, either with the Placement dialog, or directly by changing the properties in the Data tab at the lower left side.
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Shalmeneser
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by Shalmeneser »

Std_TransformManip for idea
then Placement for precision
chasinmytail
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by chasinmytail »

Thank you both for the response. Looks like I got some tutorials to follow. Let me try those and let you know if i can make some progress
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thomas-neemann
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by thomas-neemann »

chasinmytail wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 5:30 pm ...

here is an intuitive suggestion. is this useful for you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8Xe5GqO-o

phpBB [video]






Elitedesk_MB-tn.FCStd
(447.85 KiB) Downloaded 12 times
Gruß Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Neemann

https://www.youtube.com/@thomasneemann5 ... ry=freecad
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easyw-fc
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by easyw-fc »

a different approach using Aligner and Mover from Manipulator WB
phpBB [video]


-
https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Manipulator_Workbench
chasinmytail
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by chasinmytail »

thomas-neemann wrote: Sat Oct 01, 2022 6:38 am
chasinmytail wrote: Fri Sep 30, 2022 5:30 pm ...

here is an intuitive suggestion. is this useful for you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8Xe5GqO-o

phpBB [video]







Elitedesk_MB-tn.FCStd
Thank you very much Thomas for making the video specific to this. I have been playing it as .25 speed to try and follow and understand the steps so it may take me a day or two to get the hang of it.

Respectfully Chasin
chasinmytail
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Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2022 5:13 pm

Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by chasinmytail »

easyw-fc wrote: Sat Oct 01, 2022 11:18 am a different approach using Aligner and Mover from Manipulator WB


-
https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Manipulator_Workbench
You guys are amazing for doing the specific video to my case. I'll try to follow them and learn from it. Have a great weekend.

Respectfully Chasin
chasinmytail
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by chasinmytail »

Just to close up this topic. Thanks again for all the help. I tried both ways, but at the end I used Manipulator workbench. It was easier to user for a novice like me.

Chasin
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onekk
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Re: Need some direction on assembling parts from STEP files

Post by onekk »

Hello @chasinmytail.

Please edit first post and add [Solved] to the title.

It signal that you have found a solution.

Regards

Carlo D.
GitHub page: https://github.com/onekk/freecad-doc.
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